Programme de bourses "Echanges Universitaires"

Since the first intifada, the focus of Palestinian politics shifted from Tunis to the Occupied Territories. Such change of direction was lately confirmed by the signature of Declaration of Principle (D.o.P) in September 1993. Then, the final point of this transformation was reached when the legislative and presidential elections were held in 1996 in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.
The above mentioned events led to the progressive substitution of the PLO by the Palestinian Authority as the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian interests. As far as refugees living outside the Occupied Territories were concerned, this change corresponded with their marginalization on the Palestinian political arena. On one side, this transformation produced the fragmentation of the Palestinian constituency. On the other, it reinforced the existing links between the refugees and their political elite at both local and national levels. 
In this perspective, the aim of this research project is to study the processes of political representation linking the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to their elites after 1994. The object of this research is represented by the activities promoting the right of return – a fundamental identity issue for the refugees and for the Palestinians – conducted by collective agents, i.e. political parties and NGOs, inside camps. The case study is the camp of Burj al-Shamal in the Tyre area.
By analyzing such activities, it is possible to answer to two questions: “Who does try to mobilize the refugees in Lebanon using the right of return? And how?” The answers are interesting for two reasons. First, discovering which the political forces are operating among the refugees can contribute to unveil the mechanism of governance working inside Lebanese camps. Otherwise said, this research aims at contributing to the individuation of who rules inside the refugee camps – or at least which collective organizations compete for it – and how they obtain people loyalty. Second, these answers can contribute to the understanding of the notion of representation in a weakly institutionalized and undemocratic context, like the refugee camp of Burj al Shamal. In such context actual representation differs radically from what is usually proposed by mainstream Political Science doctrines. Therefore, this research has been designed to make an original and interesting contribution from a theoretical point of view too.
 The detailed picture of the activities promoting the right of return inside the camp of Burj al Shamal – to be done in partnership with the Beirut and Amman IFPOs (Institut Frainçais du Proche Orient) and their local researchers – will be done through a series of interviews with the leaders of political organizations operating inside the camp. Hopefully, this work will shed some light on who compete for the representation of the Palestinian refugee and how they do that. The results of this study are going to be published in a Master dissertation written at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (GIIDS) of Geneva.
Addresses:
Sergio Bianchi,
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
E-mail: bianchi.sergio@gmail.com

IFPO Amman : BP 830413, Amman 11183 (Jordanie).
Tél. : 962 - (0)6 - 46 40 515 / 46 11 171 / 46 11 872 / 46 11 873. Fax : 962 - (0)6 - 46 11 170
E-mail: admin_ifpo.amm@wanadoo.jo
Contact person : Jalal al Husseini

IFPO Beyrouth : B.P. 11-Beyrouth, 1424 (Liban).
Tél. : 961 - (0)1 - 420 292/293/294/298. Fax : 961 - (0)1 - 615 866 ou 420 295
E-mail : cermoca@lb.refer.org